240 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



B B is the only shot for Pelicans. A loose charge is no 

 good. A No. 4 shot will drill a clean hole through the big 

 wing bone without breaking it. 



I observe that the example in the Zoological Gardens at 

 London has a greater power of moving the eye than most 

 birds. On stating to the keeper that I had seen these birds 

 sitting in tamarisk trees, he said that one perched on one 

 occasion on the iron rail which divides their cage down the 

 middle. 



215. Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo (Linn.); 

 "Agag." 



We saw a few at Damietta and some more in Middle 

 Egypt as we were going up, but in the Faioum none. 



Captain Shelley, Mr. E. C. Taylor, and Dr. Adams, are 

 of opinion that they stay to breed. I, however, do not 

 believe they breed either at the cliffs of Gebel-Abou-Fayda, 

 or of Gebel-Tair. 



■Jf2i6. Long-tailed Cormorant, Graailus africauus 



(Gm.) ; Sav. Desc. de I'Eg., ois. 8, fig. 2 ; 



Carbo longicnuda, Swains; VVestafr, II., p. 255, pi. 31; 



Finsch and Hartlaub, p. 847. 



This is one of the commonest of birds at lake Faioum in 

 June. Some we shot were in immature, or perhaps still in 

 winter plumage, with all the underparts, except the vent, 

 white ; others were curiously mottled black and white ; 

 and others were in full breeding plumage. Some of the 

 latter had the flesh of the forehead raised in a very singular 

 manner, but on looking at my skins I see that it has much 

 sunk down. These birds had also crests. But the strangest 

 thing about them is a sharp bone, about half an inch long, 



